Celestia
Mount Celestia is home to innumerable grand cities and formal gardens. Outside, there is a natural ecosystem, with animals that are not naturally tame but that present no danger to humans. Here the terrain is always difficult and dangerous, with rockslides, winds, avalanches, and sudden storms. The people of the mountain(s) often patrol and form rescue parties. Apart from the physical dangers, a decent creature is safer here than anywhere else in the multiverse. CELESTIA TRAITS Celestia has the following traits. *Normal Gravity. *Normal Time. *Infinite Size: Each layer of Celestia is infinite, though each layer is but one portion of the greater mountain, each higher than the last. *Divinely Morphic: Celestia is morphic for entities of at least lesser deity power. It is alterable in the normal manner for more ordinary creatures. *No Elemental or Energy Traits. *Mildly Good-Aligned and Mildly Law-Aligned: Evil or chaotic characters on Celestia suffer a –2 penalty on Charisma-based checks. Chaotic evil characters suffer a –4 penalty on Charisma-based checks. *Normal Magic. Links The only way to reach Celestia is by entering its first and lowest layer, Lunia, also called the Silver Sea. Visitors always find themselves in the surf of an ocean surrounding Mount Celestia. Very few portals from other planes lead anywhere on Celestia other than to the Silver Sea. A sequence of portals connects Celestia's seven layers. Each portal to a higher layer sits at the highest physical point of the next lower layer. Moving through the layers is one and the same as ascending Mount Celestia. But what makes ascending Mount Celestia more than just a matter of climbing is that each layer has many paths leading to the next layer. Only those who have found some truth regarding law and goodness can find the path. Thus, attaining the pinnacle involves a series of trials during which the supplicant is slowly washed of ideals that do not conform to the plane. However, there are rumored to be nonspiritual shortcuts for the traveler who knows where to look or whom to talk to. Inhabitants Celestia is home to many creatures of good, such as aasimars, devas, planetars, and solars. In addition, several groups of good-aligned natives of the Material Plane have set up residence on the lowest slope, along the beach of the Silver Sea. Celestia's primary residents, the archons, are to Celestia what the devils are to the Nine Hells: natives of the plane and purveyors of its ideals. Archons come in many types; most common are lantern archons, hound archons, and trumpet archons. Most petitioners of Celestia are lantern archons. More so than most petitioners on other planes, they are graced with both knowledge and power. Every petitioner's goal is to ascend through the layers of Mount Celestia and evolve into a more glorious archon type. Other archons treat lantern archons like children, forgiving their errors and guiding them onto paths of virtue. Lantern archons appear as floating balls of light that glow like a torch. L Layers From the seashore at the bottom of the first layer to the heights of the seventh, paths wind up the many peaks, ridges, canyons, and passes of Mount Celestia. Somehow, every incline looks up to the next layer, which shines like the sun on the layer below. Each rift eventually leads down past arching waterfalls and rushing brooks to the Silver Sea. Even from many layers above, the ringing chimes of each wave breaking on the shore of Lunia are faintly, reassuringly audible. Lunia ("the moon"): The heaven of innocence. Here children and simple folk enjoy peace and safety and find opportunities for fulfillment. In some places, social animals live together as they do in children's stories. Their defenders are invisible, but powerful. The lawful joys of childhood are the theme here. The heaven of holy innocence is an infinite sea of holy water ("the silver sea") under a summer-night sky full of silver stars and eternal moonlight. Sapphire pools to the astral may be found as bright spots in the water. The stars and moon are far brighter and more beautiful than on any prime plane. From the sea rise the grand mountain-islands, while other holy beings live in the water itself. All portals from other planes open in or just above the ocean, so that new arrivals are immersed, recalling the initiations of certain world-faiths. Unholy creatures will be severely damaged, while others will be rescued if needed by dolphins, sea folk, or Michael, the ultra-likable and ubiquitous boatman of the upper planes. Some souls newly-released from the body may float for a time in the air as points of light before their spiritual bodies form on the plane. "Speak with Dead" will result in good conversation. This is a common plane for the headquarters of sects devoted to child care, education, and simple goodness. Visitors will probably find opportunities to raise their constitution and dexterity scores. On the islands, you can also find communities of good social animals. There is a kingdom of holy rats on one of the islands -- long ago, rats rescued a great minion of goodness. There is a realm of wise and good dinosaurs. Good dogs are extremely common. Many of the animals can talk. "And a little child shall lead them." *Castle Mahlhevik: The wonders of Lunia offer much, even for a chaotic evil wizard committed to learning the paths of goodness. Calling in favors from various demideities and revealing his sincerity to highly placed archons, the wizard Mahlhevik built his castle on the shore of the Silver Sea in peace. While he's sincerely attempting to reform, he's got a long way to go, and retains many instincts and notions of his former lifestyle. Mahlhevik welcomes visitors and allows travelers of any alignment to stay in Castle Mahlhevik. Some of Mahlhevik's “old friends” such as Sytris, once called the Soul Reaver, and Japheth, formerly known as Lifeleech, visit from time to time. Arriving onto the plane waist deep in the holy water of the Silver Sea has a way of scarring and frightening away Mahlhevik's old friends, so they don't visit often. Interesting trades and even more interesting stories can be had at Mahlhevik's castle, and travelers who don't want to deal directly with archons regard it a good place to stay. Mercuria ("the planet Mercury"): The heaven of learning, the spiritual home of all who advance human knowledge for good. The layer is full of the spirits of those whose first concern was using their special skills and knowledge for the good of others. Unimpeded thought and free scientific inquiry are the theme here. You will find the greatest universities in the multiverse here, and any book that a good person could use might be found. If you bring "comprehend languages" and make an intelligence check, you can probably find any single piece of information you want. Mercuria is a realm of perpetual sunrise, far more glorious than dawn on any prime plane. There are realms with a high-tech focus, and other realms where good magicians can learn most anything they would want. This is a common location for the headquarters of good, decent sects devoted to athletics, commerce, communications, dawn, knowledge, or good magic. Characters will find opportunities to improve their dexterity and intelligence scores on this plane. All poison is slowed here and above, as per the "Slow Poison" spell. Any act of creation is doubly successful, including "Creation" sphere spells, as is all artistry and craftsmanship. *Bahamut's Palace: This glittering wonder is built entirely from the treasure hoard of Bahamut the Platinum Dragon, ruler of good dragons and a paragon of wisdom, knowledge, prophecies, and song. The palace's windows are gemstones in settings of gold and silver, its walls are inlaid with copper and jade, and its floors are beaten mithral. Within, seven great wyrms attend Bahamut amid treasure gathered over eons—and the bones of a thousand failed thieves. Bahamut's Palace moves among the first four layers of Celestia at Bahamut's will, carried aloft by a whirlwind. For travelers friendly to the Platinum Dragon, the palace offers an alternative method for traveling Celestia without using the paths. Venya ("the planet Venus"): The heaven of love. The layer exemplifies family love at its best. Here also is the spiritual home for doers of good deeds for the larger human family. "The Pearly Heaven" or "Summerland" is a lush and fertile mountain universe glowing with a pearly light as bright as a prime plane noonday. It is the spiritual home of all decent, right-living, ordinary folk. The weather is milder here than on the other layers. Plants grow twice as fast as usual, and all plant magic is doubly strong. Pearly Heaven is also the spiritual home of the finest artists. Denominations that serve decent communities often have their headquarters here. This is a common location for the headquarters of holy sects devoted to agriculture, ancestors, or genuine family values. Characters will find opportunities to improve their strength and charisma scores. All poison is immediately neutralized here and above. *Green Fields: Here crops never fail, the weather is always mild, and plentiful harvests are a blessing. This is the realm of the halfling deity Yondalla, and that means comfort. The realm is a combination of burrowed households, small rustic buildings, and endless fields. No large predators live in the Green Fields; moles, rabbits, and badgers are common. Solania ("the sun"): The heaven of wisdom. Here the multiverse's philosophies and theologies, and its honest doubts, come together in peace. "The Golden Heaven" or "The Heaven of Wisdom" is filled with colorful glowing mists, soaring mountains and tremendous canyons, all under a sunlit golden sky. Light here is more brilliant than any noonday on the inhabited prime plane, but it is not oppressive. This is the spiritual home of the good philosophers and teachers, of those who have preserved the best traditions, and those who organized worthy charities. On the mountain tops are monasteries where all worthy questions are answered truthfully and completely, where a lawful-good cleric can gain experience, and where any creature that presents itself will obtain mercy. Those receiving mercy must in turn show mercy to others later. Fourth Heaven is a common location for the headquarters of holy sects devoted to healing, kindness, light, oracles, philosophy, or the sun. Characters will find opportunities to improve their intelligence and wisdom scores here. Here and above, all curses are permanently nullified. *Erackinor: The slopes of Solania are deeply tunneled with a vast dwarven mansion called Erackinor. None but dwarves and dwarven petitioners are allowed within. Those who enter and return speak in hushed tones of stonework and craftsmanship that far surpasses anything a dwarf might have seen on the Material Plane. When Moradin fires up the deep Soul Forges below the roots of Mount Celestia, all the halls rush with the noise of the bellows. Dwarven clerics say Moradin uses the Soul Forges to temper the spirits of his people and their weapons. The forges may have other uses as well. The armories of Erackinor are second to none, and the combat-veteran dwarves and dwarven petitioners that fill Erackinor's halls make the mansion nigh impregnable. Mertion Mertion ("the planet Mars"): The heaven of courage. It is the home for all who fought for goodness and decency. Also here are the pacifists and martyrs, who gave their lives for good causes without fighting back. "The Platinum Heaven" or "Camelot" is the home of heroism and self-sacrifice. Here the armies of holy angels are marshalled for just wars. The realm is filled with sweat, blood, and friendship at their finest. The sky glows with a platinum-colored light, brighter than the fourth heaven, and painful for creatures who are not either extremely good or native to the upper planes. Unholy creatures take 1d6 damage/round, no save. Chivalry and the best bonds of military comradeship are real here. This is the spiritual home of paladins and all others who were organized to fight for good. Equally, this is the home of all holy martyrs, souls who renounced violence and advanced the cause of righteousness by their sacrifices and death. Atop the mountains are colossal ruby-domed citadels. Here all kinds of creatures receive the best possible combat training, and perhaps fighters can gain experience here. There is a battle training ground where every wound heals at 1 hp/hour and even mutilation and death are temporary, provided that the battler is there by approval of those in authority. There is a city of hard work and healing, where anyone can be cured of diseases, insanity, lost body parts, or lost life levels -- but using the waters tends to turn the user Lawful Good without penalty. Metal from this heaven is probably used to make Holy Avenger swords and similar weapons. This is a common location for the headquarters of sects devoted to healing, missions, strength, and just-wars. Characters will find opportunities to improve their strength and constitution scores here. Here and above, all diseases are cured, even mummy rot and lycanthropy. *Empyrea: Also called the City of Tempered Souls, Empyrea sits on the edge of a cold, clear mountain lake. The many healing fountains and curative waters in Empyrea can restore withered limbs, lost speech, derangement, and life energy itself; those who ail need only find the right fountain. Empyrea is also known for its healers and hospitals, and many a pilgrim seeks to reach this legendary site of perfect health. Jovar ("the planet Jupiter"): The heaven of justice. At the center is a ziggurat, intricately carved. Good folk see their own good deeds engraved here. Wicked and selfish folk see the good deeds of their enemies. And perhaps good folks of all ethical persuasions see the hidden things that make sense of seemingly-senseless events. Atop the ziggurat, a court meets in perpetual session. Any being presenting itself to the court will receive justice. Beware, all who approach the court! "The Glittering Heaven" or "Heaven of Gems" has a silvery sky filled with huge celestial bodies of every color, glowing with intense light, like thousands of suns. No one knows who or what inhabits these bodies, but it is rumored that they are worlds inhabited by the spirits of contrite sinners who have done their penances and passed beyond the known outer planes. Jovar is the spiritual home of all who administered justice, all who planned wisely for the good of all decent folk, and (depending on the region) also for those for whom organized religion was the means of promoting love and kindness. Here the councils of holy angels rule and plan for the good of all creatures. And here, every visitor knows the wrongs that he or she has done, and the evil that he or she still harbors. This makes all but the very finest folks uncomfortable. The finest of all sacred music is heard here. There are pools where any creature making a wisdom check can view most any place in the multiverse for 1d6 hours. There is the multiverse's best law library, and if a visitor knows where to look, he or she can find a catalogue of every being's morally significant actions (well-repented sins have been erased). Regardless of merit, merely entering this plane heals all physical, mental, and spiritual ills, and restores all lost abilities, levels, and body parts. Perhaps one could even find lost memories from Styx/Lethe or a cure for insanity caused by casting "ESP" on the Lady of Pain. The courtroom provides the only entry to the seventh heaven. *Yetsira, the Heavenly City: The Heavenly City is visible from everywhere on Jovar and from vantage points on lower levels. The city is a seven-layered ziggurat. An enormous staircase on each of its four faces connects the terraces. Gemstones of profound value make up every step and every stone on the ziggurat, and all glow with an inner light. Hosts of archons move up and down the stairs, but the structure is so massive that the steps never grow crowded. On the lowest terrace sits the Exchequer of Souls, a black marble building of graceful arches and onion domes laced with threads of gold and silver. Here powerful archons weigh the virtues of lower archons, elevating the worthy to higher forms. The Radiant Arsenal on the fourth terrace is a long, narrow building with a vaulted ceiling and extensive cellars. Here weapons both magic and mundane are stored to arm the archon hosts if necessary. The most important weapons are said to contain the essence of powerful archons. They reside in pearl-lined vaults sealed by deityscribed glyphs. The Bridge of al-Sihal on the seventh, highest terrace is a beam of blinding light. This is the portal to the seventh heaven, Chronias, and it is guarded by a solar named Xerona who turns aside the unworthy. Chronias ("the planet Saturn", or "Father Time"): The cloud of unknowing. For Dante, this heaven was the home of the contemplatives and mystics, whose prayer was their whole life, and who sought grace to receive the direct vision of God during mortal life. Dante's "heaven of Saturn" is cold and silent, yet with a central instrument for further ascension to the true home of all blessed souls. In the TSR worlds, no player character has ever returned from Chronias, but it must be a realm of truth, goodness, love, and light beyond description. The wise say that the seven heavens only reflect the joy for which all beings were created. Spell alterations in Mount Celestia Spells that encourage misbehavior or confusion or that involve harmful necromancy or causing pain ("blur", "fool's gold", "misdirection", "delude", "confusion", "contagion", "enervation", "distance distortion", "mislead", "demand", "trap the soul", "chaos school spells", and so forth) simply fail. Non-lawful-good types have a straight percentage chance of spell failure (10% for neutral-good and lawful-neutral, 30% for lawful-evil, true-neutral, and chaotic-good, 60% for neutral-evil or chaotic-neutral, and 90% for chaotic-evil). Conjured lawful creatures obey the letter of every command. Good creatures serve lawful-good or neutral-good summoners faithfully. Others cannot command any obedience from anything. All divinations are true, without exception. All life-enhancing necromancy of mages or clerics is double-effect, while killing spells attempted for a bad purpose probably fail and mark the would-be user (stories about their doubling the hit dice of the intended victims are hard to credit). Wild mages' levels are reduced by one per level of the plane, no surges are possible, and wild magic spells over fourth level simply fail. Elementals are tractable if they are conjured for a decent purpose. Magic that would damage the mountain(s) simply fails. It seems unlikely that spell keys would overcome any of the basic changes in magic. The original rulebook state that a unique key is required to cast "fear" -- think about why this might be. Wizardly spell keys are metal shapes. They must be kept pure and undefiled. Power keys for clergy are holy symbols, and they lose their power in 1-3 months. * The suggested color for pools from the astral is gold. Ethereal curtains might be brilliant yellow. * The dead who have become lanterns are immune to electricity and petrification, and have other special abilities. * The plane is "mildly good-aligned" and "mildly law-aligned". Chaotic and evil creatures have -2 (adding as necessary) on charisma checks. -1 on all intelligence, wisdom, and charisma checks for all non-good, non-evil creatures-2 on all intelligence, wisdom, and charisma checks for all evil creatures-1 on all intelligence, wisdom, and charisma checks for all non-lawful, non-chaotic creatures-2 on all intelligence, wisdom, and charisma checks for all chaotic creaturesGood-based (non-chaotic) spells work as if caster were 4 levels higher.Evil-based spells simply fail.Law-based (non-evil) spells work as if caster were 4 levels higher.Chaos-based spells simply fail. More beginning. The tale of the Twin Serpents is only half told. After the Sundering, when Ahriman and his minions tumbled into Baator's deepest pit, the other was freed to wing into Heaven. Jazirian sniffed around. "I am Good," it said, "And this plane is Good. All that is not Me is Evil, so therefore this plane is Me." Jazirian explored some more. "This plane does not feel like Me. I must find Myself." Jazirian grasped its tail in its mouth and closed its eyes. Suspended in the air, it did not move for some time. Jazirian's followers decided to meet the locals and make a new life for themselves. Like Baator, the Celestial Mount was already well-populated, by zoveri, by Bahamut and his dragons, by ki-rin, tuen'rin, lammasu, shedu, foo dogs, incarnates, per, noctrals, lawful-good beholders, dwarven spirits being forged in Erackinor, the Caverns of Eternal Flame, and the archons. No one knows the orgin of the archons. Some claim they were made by the Guardinals as part of a program to convert Law to Pure Good. Some claim they were created by children of Jazirian before the Fall. There is also one word, with no context, possibly related to one of the above theories: Yaldabaoth. Regardless, they seem to predate the arrival of the coatl and the Logoi, who are the Words of Jazirian transformed into aasimon. Sometime before history began, the modron hierarchy was at war with a spider-like creature. It may have been a rogue modron or a stray personification that had gone mad. During the war, a faction arose among the vaati that claimed that endless war would never defeat Chaos, and that protection should be their first priority. These dissidents spread across the multiverse to become the Protectors. After the war, with most of the vaati extinct, some of the Protectors retreated to Arcadia to become the buseni, dedicated to driving improper influences from their perfect plane. The creators of the archons, ancient long-since ascended beings known only as the Aeons, draw partially from the vaati and partially from the guardinals to create the archons, a mixture of the forms of Law and Good that would protect the multiverse the aeons left behind. The guardinals themselves draw partially from the human archetype (the Man Rune) and partly from the animal (the Beast Rune, which finds its expression primarily in the Beastlands) to create their forms. Reactions: "The archons," sneers an Athar. "They think they're so good, busily converting innocent souls into more of their kind when they could be concentrating on ascending beyond, into the pleroma, Absolute Spirit, the Great Unknown. They hold their victims into this multiverse of death and pain." "Would you have them not exist?" counters the Hardhead. "Regardless of the existence or nonexistence of this Great Unknown you natter on about, the archons do a great deal of good by involving themselves with the multiverse instead of cowardly retreating from it. They're bodisattvas, not villains." "It should be a matter of individual choice! All souls in Mount Celestia become lantern archons, whether they will it or no!" "Individual choice doesn't create peace. Sometimes you have to swallow your own selfish goals for the good of All." The birth of the asuras. Amnon was a peculiar Power, half god and half archon, officially part of the middle ranks of Mount Celestia's hierarchy. At some point in his evolution, Amnon became insatiably greedy for power, and used magic to completely drain the aasimon Vohu Manah of her memories. Absolom, who some claim once had other names (even that he was Varuna, Surya, or Ahura Mazda) seized control of the celestial armies and used them to hunt Amnon down and slay him. For so severely disobeying protocol, Absolom was exiled from the Mountain. He became an asuras, the first of his kind. The asuras often storm out of the planes of conflict, succeed in taking over heaven, and drive the devas and archons out. The devas then appeal to the higher powers, who appear to defeat the asuras, driving them back to the middle worlds, and reestablishing the asuras/archon balance of power. The Great Deluge. At some point, the fiends discovered the Prime Material Plane, and the first great invasion of it began. The floodgates of Lunia were opened. Many species, including the great dinosaurs, died out in some worlds, but the fiendish invasion was halted. A cautious treaty was made, bound into the fabric of the astral conduits by the combined thoughts of all the plane-borne races that existed at the time, forcing fiends to remain in the lower planes unless summoned. In return, the archons would not leave their plane at all, except on missions involving collecting souls. The eladrin first appeared at this point, creatures of living deception who could do what the archons could not. At this point, the lammasu and shedu left the formal ranks of the archons in order that they could enter the Prime. Many of them entered the service of other deities: this was, directly or in reaction to this, the origin of the sphinxes, lamias, manticores, minotaurs, and chimeras. The Present: The rulers of the archons tend to be much more patient and subtle than those of the baatezu, allowing the gods to control most of the activity on the Mount. Jazirian has long since come out of its introspection, but works in secret. Leibniz said: "As we have shown above that there is a perfect harmony between the two realms in nature, one of efficient, and the other of final causes, we should here notice also another harmony between the physical realm of nature and the moral realm of grace..." Sounds like monadic devas to me. There's also stuff about reward and punishment. Leibniz apparently considers a monad (Entelechies) to be a simple kind of soul, so monadic devas might shepherd primal soul-stuff from the Ethereal or Positive Energy Plane to the outer planes. I still don't know what "movanic" is. The closest I've found so far is "movant", "one that makes an applicaton or petition to a court of law or to a judge with the intention of obtaining a favorable ruling." Kind of an advocate for humanity? "Monadic" refers to things with a valence of one - that can combine with one other thing. This includes intransitive verbs like "arrive" or "appear." Monadic devas can thus bring up to one word with them from Jazirian's realm. Astral devas have a valence of three. Monavic (monastic?) devas have a valence of two. Monadic devas are guardians of the fundamental elements of nature. They are assigned to the inner planes, and to Temporal Prime. Shemyaza was a monadic deva, being the guardian of the One Name. Or he was a solar, the guardian of many Names, and is hunting them down to safekeep in Pelion. Shemyaza was part of a sect in ancient Mount Celestia called the Watchers or Grigori. They believed that mortals needed to be carefully tutored and controlled. They were judged heretical by the Hebdomad (the ruling council of tome archons) and banished along with their aasimar descendents. Iadalbaoth, another one of the Watchers, was once ruler of the throne archons and now leads groups of fiends. An earlier sect on the Mount of Holies was the Primordials. They were in favor of fighting against or ministering to celestials, elementals, and so forth, but balked at helping mortals, who were just beginning to appear in the planes. "Why should beings of spirit bow before creatures of flesh?" was the question asked by the Primordials' leader Iblis, a solar who as a monadic deva had spent a lot of time warring with wicked creatures from the plane of Elemental Fire. The Primordials, too, were banished by the Hebdomad's decree. Similarly, the group called the Omnion urged concordance between the celestial races, and the Tobit, made up of shedu and celestial lammasu, urged the archons to stay completely independent of outsiders. In the end the Omnion was transformed into hosts of asuras, and the Tobit formally left the archon race, most of them degenerating into sphinxes, lamias, and chimerae. Nessus sucks and drains at the other outer planes. It devours belief and gives nothing back. It's the end of the Styx, where the river flows into oblivion. It first drained the lawfulness from the yugoloths against their will, forcing them to also purge the chaos from themselves - those who refused became the gehreleths. Then Baator pulled the exiled archons toward it; only the bright asuras escaped (excepting lost Ath). Celestia